Bear Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire #2)(29)

She smiled off into the dark woods. “Then I hope it scars.”

Jenner slid out of her and turned her slowly in his arms, then did something he’d never done before. He hugged her. Just wrapped her up in his strong arms and rocked them slowly back and forth. “Tomorrow, I’ll take you to a cabin I know about,” he murmured. “You’ll sleep in a proper bed, and I’ll take better care of you.”

“But—”

“Woman, I know this is what you signed up for, and I know you can sleep rough. You’re the toughest person I’ve ever met. It’s me. I have this need to put you somewhere safe for a night and give my instincts a rest, okay?”

She nodded, her cheek pressed against his warm chest. “All right.”

“Titus is a roamer. I think we are out of his way, but tomorrow will be different. I’ll take you to another spot a couple of young bears have been hanging out at.” Jenner’s lips pressed against the top of her head, lingered there. “We’ll get you all the pictures you want, but we have to do it differently than this. I can’t protect you like I need to out here. A rifle is no match for bears like Titus, Lena. He’ll have you half-devoured before he feels any pain.”

“Maybe he was just after those other bears. Maybe one of them was in heat or something.”

Jenner shook his head and huffed a humorless laugh. Easing back, he lifted her palm to the half-healed red slash marks she’d nursed the first night she’d met him. She winced at how much it must still hurt him.

“Lena, Titus is a man-eater. We’ve had three hikers go missing in the last few weeks, and I’d bet everything I own if you opened up that bruin’s guts, you’d find them. He has a taste for people. I had plans on coming out here and putting him down, but I can’t with you here.”

“Because I don’t want you to shoot the bears? If he’s a man-eater, I understand the necessity.”

“A rifle won’t be the end of him.”

“Then what will?”

“Me.”

“I don’t understand,” she whispered.

Jenner looked sick as he rolled his eyes closed and sighed. “I need to tell you something. I need to but I can’t.”

“Why not?”

He opened those dark eyes, the ones that looked so out of place on his face. His voice dipped to almost nothing. “Because you’ll run.”

Up on her tiptoes, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tightly. She understood his want to hide the darkest parts of himself. She’d been hiding for years. “I won’t run, Jenner. I promise. Just tell me. Say it and let me in.”

His heartbeat was pounding against her.

“Please, Jenner.”

He hugged her tighter to him and whispered, “I’m a bear.”

Lena pursed her lips and stared at the moon through the tree branches over Jenner’s shoulder. Whatever she’d expected him to admit to her, that was not it. “Like a bear of a man?”

“No, I mean I’m a bear. Shifter. I’m both. A man and a bear. Shit.”

“Soooo…you’re saying you can turn into a bear. Like Titus. Furry with teeth and claws.”

“Yes.”

Lena pushed off him and stood at an arm’s length distance because she couldn’t hug him while he was saying such ridiculous nonsense. “You’re telling me you are a werebear.”

“No, a bear shifter.”

She blinked slowly and pursed her lips. Okay, sure that explained why he would be so growly, and maybe it even explained his changing eye color. And now his ridiculously heightened sense of smell was making more sense. “You bit me.”

“You told me to.”

“Am I a bear shifter now, too? Like with a werewolf? You bit me and now I’m a bear? Is that what you’re telling me?”

“What? No. Biting doesn’t Turn a person into a shifter. At least that doesn’t work for bears and werewolves. Other shifters have different abilities.”

“I was being sarcastic about werewolves, Jenner! There are werewolves now, too?”

“Yes.” He cleared his throat. “You’ve met some.”

Lena just stared. What else could she do? Jenner was the king of la-la land right now.

“Dalton and Chance are—”

“Don’t you even say werewolves to me right now, Jenner Silver. If you wanted to play a prank on me, you could’ve chosen better timing. For example, not right after you f*cked me.” Lena dressed in a hurry, then turned and stormed off toward a pile of supplies. Oh yes, she was going to build the shit out of the tent, zip herself inside, and wrap her head around the douchebaggery that Jenner had just pulled. With a pathetic little snarl, she dumped the tent out of its storage bag and began spreading it out.

“You’re mad.”

“Damn straight, I’m mad! I thought you were going to be serious, Jenner! I thought you were going to open up to me. I hope to God you don’t actually think you can turn into a bear. I fell for you! I did! And now the words that are coming from your mouth are insane. You get that, right? That what you’re saying isn’t real?”

Jenner hooked his hands on his hips and arched a dark eyebrow. “Do you want me to Change so you can see I’m not making this up?”